Loom flag



April 25, 1967 I J- B. SHERRILL LOOM FLAG Filed Oct. 23, 1965 FIG. 2

FIG. I

INVENTOR ATTORNEY JOHN B. SHERRILL FIG. 4

United States Patent 3,315,634 LOOM FLAG John Bisaner Shel-rill, Drawer578, Gastonia, N.C. 28052 Filed Oct. 23, 1965, Ser. No. 503,271 3Claims. (Cl. 116-132) This invention relates to loom flags and moreparticularly to a multiple flag unit wherein any one of several flagsmay be selectively moved to a desired position according to aprearranged plan to signify a particular kind of mechanical difliculty.

The advantages of loom flags as means for attracting attention to agiven loom in a weave room have long been recognized in the weavingindustry. Weave rooms often contain several hundred looms and so muchnoise is created by the looms that it is impossible to carry on aconversation or to attract attention by audible means. Therefore, when aweaver experiences mechanical difficulty with one of the looms under hiscontrol he must attract the attention of a loom fixer by either visuallysignalling him or physically approaching him.

Loom flags have previously been employed which include plural flagelements which may be selectively elevated to signify mechanicaldifficulties of different kinds. The loom fixer is trained to look forsignals extending from the looms and recognizes an elevated flag assignifying a mechanical difficulty with the loom from which the flagextends.

Loom flags have been previously known which were supported in elevatedposition by engagement of a notched end on the lower end of each flagelement with a stationary support attached to the loom arch. The intensevibration of the loom in operation tends to wear away the notches sothat they do not snugly engage their stationary support with the resultthat the flags do not stand erect after a period of use.

It is an object of this invention to provide a loom flag which has aplurality of flag elements, each of which may be moved to a selectedposition at any one of several angular dispositions relative to itsvertical support element and mechanically maintained in said angulardisposition despite the intense vibration of the loom.

It is a more specific object of this invention to provide spring-pressedlocking means for selective engagement with radially arranged notches inan index wheel attached to each flag element whereby its correspondingflag may be firmly supported in a desired position. The flags may bemanually moved to any desired position by rotating the flag about ahorizontal axis which will overcome the spring and permit the detent toride about the periphery of the index wheel until it engages one of theperipheral notches, at which time the spring will urge the detent intoengagement with the notch to support the flag.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objectswill appear to those skilled in the art as the description proceeds whentaken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of the loom flag attached to a loom;

FIGURE 2 is an end elevation looking at the left hand side of FIGURE 1and showing the loom flag removed from the loom with each of the flagsextending at a different angle from the staff or supporting member:

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view takensubstantially along the line 3-3 in FIGURE 1 and with a portion of thesupporting member removed for purposes of illustration; and

FIGURE 4 is a vertical sectional view, with parts broken away, takensubstantially along the line 44 in FIGURE 3.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the loom flag of thepresent invention is broadly indicated at 10 and includes a supportingstaff or standard 11 having means at one end for attachment to asuitable portion of the frame of a loom such as the loom arch, afragmentary portion of which is shown at 12. The means for fastening thestat? 11 to the loom arch 12 may conveniently comprise a nut and boltassembly 13 together with such washers as may be desired.

The other end of the staff 11 is bifurcated to define a pair of parallelupwardly extending ears 14 and 15, between which are journalled adesired number of indexing wheels 16, there being five such wheels shownin the illustrated embodiment of the invention. Each of the wheels 16 isfixed to or formed integrally with the lower end of respective flagassemblies 20a, 20b, 20c, 20d and 20s. The index wheels 16 are supportedon a common axis by a pin 21 which extends between and is supported bythe spaced ears 14 and 15. Each of the flag assemblies 20a through 202,respectively, comprises a staff 22 and a disc or flag element 23. Thumbtabs 24 are provided on each of the flag elements for ease in moving aflag element to a desired position. The flag assemblies 20a through 202are preferably made in different colors so that any suitable color codesystem may be used for facilitating location of the portion of the loomto which attention is needed. The color of each flag assembly preferablyextends throughout the flag element 23 and its supporting staff 22 so asto be more readily visible.

The mechanism for rotating the flags to a desired angular positionrelative to the support element 11 is identical and only that mechanismused in conjunction with the flag assembly 200 will be described indetail. The index wheels 16 each have a plurality of notches spacedabout their periphery, there being one notch for each angular positioninto which the flag assemblies are to be locked. The peripheral notchesare indicated at 25a through 25a in FIGURE 4. The notches 25a through252 are selectively engageable With a springpressed detent 26resiliently supported on the upper end of a coil spring 27. The springs27 are vertically mounted within a recess 28 or within respectivetubular cavities, not shown, in the upper end of the staff 11 andimmediately beneath the bifurcated end portion which defines the ears 14and 15. The springs 27 extend between the bottom wall 30 of the recess28 and a transverse Wall 31 which extends between the lower ends of thecars 14 and 15. The transverse wall 31 is provided with spaced apertures32 which communicate with the interior of the cavity 28, or with theindividual tubes for the springs 27 if desired, and through whichrespective detents 26 extend for engagement with selected notches in theperiphery of the index wheel 16.

The springs 27 are of suflicient strength to move the detents into firmengagement with a selected peripheral notch despite the somewhatvigorous vibration of the loom in operation. The provision of a separatespring for each of the flag elements enables two or more of the flagelements to be moved to different angles depending upon a predeterminedsystem in the mill.

Each of the flag elements may be colored a distinctive color if desiredas a part of a prearranged system for readily signifying the nature ofmechanical difiiculty on a loom. According to one system all of the flagelements are in the uppermost or neutral position when the loom isoperating satisfactorily and a flag of a selected color will be moved toa given angular position to visually indicate mechanical difliculty of agiven nature. The tabs 24 on the individual flag elements 23 areparticularly advantageous in moving the innermost flag elements from theneutral position. Otherwise, difliculty would be encountered in graspingthe disc 23 when it is desired to rotate the index wheel 16 to move theperipheral notch 25 out of engagement with its detent 26.

There is thus provided an improved loom flag having a greater number ofstations than has been previously available in loom flags and which hasimproved means for maintaining the loom flag at a desired angulardisposition.

In the drawings and specification there have been set forth preferredembodiments of the invention and, although specific terms are employed,they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not forpurposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined in theclaims.

I claim:

1. A signalling device comprising a support stand bifurcated at itsupper end to define spaced ears and a transverse wall joining the ears,a plurality of flag assemblies journaled on a common axis between theears, each flag assembly including a staff, a flag at one end of thestaff and an index wheel formed integral with the other end of thestaff, said index wheel being rotatable about said axis and having aplurality of peripheral notches, a spring pressed detent assemblyassociated with each index wheel and each of said detent assembliesincluding a spring and a pin, the springs in each detent assembly beingconfined beneath said transverse wall and normally urging theirrespective pins into engagement with a corresponding index wheel, andthere being a sufiicient number of peripheral notches in each indexwheel to permit each flag assembly to be moved to a different angularrelationship with respect to the remaining flag assemblies.

2. A signalling device according to claim 1 wherein each fiag includes athumb tab extending outwardly from its flag.

3. A signalling device according to claim 1 wherein each flag includesmeans for visually distinguishing it from other flags on the signallingdevice.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,552,920 9/ 1925Glover 4067 2,647,486 8/1953 League 116132 2,771,854 11/1956 Cronenwett116-133 FOREIGN PATENTS 552,556 6/1932 Germany. 176,261 6/ 1935Switzerland.

LOUIS J. CAPOZI, Primary Examiners

1. A SIGNALLING DEVICE COMPRISING A SUPPORT STAND BIFURCATED AT ITSUPPER END TO DEFINE SPACED EARS AND A TRANSVERSE WALL JOINING THE EARS,A PLURALITY OF FLAG ASSEMBLIES JOURNALED ON A COMMON AXIS BETWEEN THEEARS, EACH FLAG ASSEMBLY INCLUDING A STAFF, A FLAG AT ONE END OF THESTAFF AND AN INDEX WHEEL FORMED INTEGRAL WITH THE OTHER END OF THESTAFF, SAID INDEX WHEEL BEING ROTATABLE ABOUT SAID AXIS AND HAVING APLURALITY OF PERIPHERAL NOTCHES, A SPRING PRESSED DETENT ASSEMBLYASSOCIATED WITH EACH INDEX WHEEL AND EACH OF SAID DETENT ASSEMBLIESINCLUDING A SPRING AND A PIN, THE SPRINGS IN EACH DETENT ASSEMBLY BEINGCONFINED BENEATH SAID TRANSVERSE WALL AND NORMALLY URGING THEIRRESPECTIVE PINS INTO ENGAGEMENT WITH A CORRESPONDING INDEX WHEEL, ANDTHERE BEING A SUFFICIENT NUMBER OF PERIPHERAL NOTCHES IN EACH INDEXWHEEL TO PERMIT EACH FLAG ASSEMBLY TO BE MOVED TO A DIFFERENT ANGULARRELATIONSHIP WITH RESPECT TO THE REMAINING FLAG ASSEMBLIES.